Here’s a quick script for reading a data file containing serialized data generated by PHP, and outputting it in a human readable format to a Linux command line interface. A short web search found no existing utilities for achieving this, so hopefully it will be useful.

You must use absolute paths (using tilde also expansion works, of course). Save this as a file called deserialize-php, make it executable, and move it into your /usr/bin folder to make it universally accessible.

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php// Enable error reportingerror_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT);// Get command line arguments$userArgs=$argv;// Check that an argument was providedif(!isset($userArgs[1])){echo"\nNo path submitted: a path to a serialized PHP data file is required'\n\n";die();}elseif('/'==substr($userArgs[1],0,1)){// The supplied path is absolute$serializedPath=$userArgs[1];}else{// If the supplied path is relativeecho"\nRelative path supplied but not supported, please provide an absolute path\n\n";die();}// Get the serialised data for processing$serialized=file_get_contents($serializedPath);// Unserialize the data$unserialized=unserialize($serialized);// Print the data array in readable formprint_r($unserialized);

Inside the historic pyramid building in Central Tirana (more recently museum to the nation’s life-long dictator), I concluded my speech on economic challenges to Open Source companies, and raised my eyes from the notes on my tablet to see a sea of hands.

I felt both nervous and exhilarated at the idea that those before me were about to challenge the assumptions underlying the mostly pessimistic conclusions I had drawn about the immediate future of Open Source businesses. Belonging to other conference speakers, those hands prodded at something else entirely however.

“Nobody ever said Open Source would make you rich”, one hand-waver said. “You should create Open Source because it’s the right thing to do, not for the money” said another. Initially I was speechless. As I stood there, under aggressive lighting rigged for TV confounded by this reflected message which I had never considered.

I realised that I had overlooked something fundamental in my presentation, something that was now difficult to concisely convey. So I shall elaborate here as briefly as possible.

Assumption 1

Start-up businesses are a valid means of developing Open Source software

More tenuous than I first realised, but bear with me.

Reasoning 1

A fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay

People who labour for the common good are no less deserving than those who labour for themselves

Great achievements require many hard days work

∴ Achieving great things fairly requires a considerable amount of pay

While it’s true that many Open Source applications are the by-product of other activities, including proprietary applications, that’s not a model I want to explore here.

To draw the same conclusion with alternative reasoning:

Reasoning 2

Software startup economics demand both ‘hyper-growth’ and the investment required to fuel it

Being runner up in a market subject to strong network effects is tantamount to failure

∴ Major growth targets and major investment are mutually dependent requirements for software startups

In other words, significant investment, revenues, and growth, are all necessary for a successful Open Source startup.

Dirty money?

“Wealth” and “significant investment and revenues” are for many people interchangeable labels. But clearly organisational wealth, and personal wealth are entirely different things. Despite the distrust of Corporate America by generations of Open Source advocates, faith that well-funded firms may conceivably work for their benefit is reasonable and necessary. One can “be big to do good”. I believe it’s our best hope.

As somebody who has been advocating Open Source for half my life I assume that others like me see wealth, and particularly organisational wealth, as a means to increase Open Source adoption. The sharp lesson learned in Tirana was that wealth is an emotional issue, even in the abstract; even when it’s harnessed for things people love, and whenever I speak about it, the first crucial step is reframing its power as an engine for freedom.

Ahead of the upcoming panel discussion ‘Building an open source business‘ at FOSS Backstage run by Jos Poortvliet and I, it’s useful to review the commercial models most commonly applied by Open Source projects. These can provide a framework of understanding and common vocabulary to facilitate effective debate. Originally published on the FOSS Backstage website.

Among the hundreds of Open Source businesses operating today a handful of commercial models are reused. Erik S. Raymond described thirteen models in his seminal 1997 publication The Cathedral and the Bazaar. While these models were largely theoretical, hist list is comprehensive and insightful.

Models described by Erik S. Raymond

• Cost sharing

• Free the Future

• Risk spreading

• Sell the Present

• Loss-Leader/Market Positioner

• Free the Software

• Widget Frosting

• Sell the Brand

• Open a Restaurant

• Free the Software

• Give Away the Recipe

• Sell the Content

• Accessorising

A more scientific approach was taken by Linus Dahlander in his 2005 paper Appropriation And Appropriability In Open Source Software. The models were reduced to five, grouped into three types of offering (‘Software as a Service’ does not appear in Linus’ original table and has been added).

Simplified models by offering

Type

Sub-category

Explanation of how it works in OSS

Products

Licensing

Licensing the right to use the software, i.e., adding a proprietary part to the open code or allowing the customers to use the source code as they wish

Black-boxing

Bunching several pieces of OSS in a hardware solution

Services

Consultancy

Consultancy work based on an area of expertise, be it a product that the firm releases or a community-established project

Education

Education based on an area of expertise, be it a product that the firm releases or a community-established project

Support based on an area of expertise, be it a product that the firm releases or a community-established project

Because most software companies rely on controlling access to the binaries and source code of their applications, and Open Source firms necessarily give away this control voluntarily, an existential question for these firms is how they capture, or appropriate, the value of their offerings. Linus summarises the range of ways Open Source businesses extract value from the software they produce.

Means / protections for appropriating value

Category

Sub-categories

Explanation of how it works in OSS

Patents (IPR)

Institutional protection in terms of temporary monopoly granted to novel, useful and non-obvious innovations. Often granted to algorithm in software, but functions is also used and heavily debated

Copyright (IPR)

Institutional protection that grants creators exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly

Secrecy

Keeping secrets within the firm, primarily by closing the code

First-mover advantages

Network externalities, first-mover advantages

Early entry to the market, which can create advantages by acquiring superior resources and capabilities

Complementary assets

Getting a large user base using complementary assets such as distribution, marketing in conjunction with the innovation

Taken together these commercial models and means of appropriation form a convenient framework for understanding the strategies of leading Open Source firms such as these.

This Christmas an elderly relative has requested the gift of hands-free, voice-activated calling via a home virtual assistant. Much has been written about Amazon’s Echo and Google Home, and the tech press are awash with conflicting information and feature speculation. As Christmas approaches and confused buyers respond to Amazon’s advertising, I’ve provided answers for shoppers with elderly or manually impaired gift recipients in mind

Disclaimer: Both devices run proprietary software which transmits personal information into the cloud under terms which present a threat to privacy.

Calling

Q: Can Amazon Echo devices make calls to UK mobiles and landlines?

A: No. Currently Echo devices can only call other Echos, and people who have the Alexa App installed. Contacts must also be synchronised with the device doing the calling before a call can be initiated. Amazon announced in September that free calling from Echo devices to mobiles and landlines is now available to customers in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, but not the UK. Presumably this will come later.

Q: Can Google Home make calls to UK mobiles and landlines?

A: No. Google Home can currently only make calls from the USA and Canada. Calling has reportedly been activated and deactivated by Google for some users, but Google has yet to officially launch it and enable it for all customers.

Standalone operation (without a smartphone)

Q: Can Amazon Echo devices be used without a smartphone?

A: Yes, but only following initial setup and synchronisation with a smartphone and the Alexa App. Once setup is complete, a smartphone is not required. However to update contacts or reset the device a smartphone with the app will again be necessary.

Q: Can Google Home be used without a smartphone?

A: Yes, but similarly to Echos, it must first be setup and synched with a smartphone, and resynched to updated the contact book.

Conclusion

As things stand, neither Google nor Amazon offer proper calling of any kind for UK customers, nor standalone operation. With assistance during setup, and assuming that important contact numbers don’t change, Amazon Echo devices can provide limited app-enabled calling. Personally I wouldn’t rely on this as a primary communication channel.

Over the next few months we can expect that both companies will add free UK calling to their devices. It’s unlikely that their dependence on smartphones for setup will change however.

What are the unique challenges and opportunities for businesses which sell Free Software as a service? This was the question that I tackled in a presentation at the Chaos Computer Club Congress this month. Following a period of reflection on the economics of different Open Source business models, and which requires the lowest risk with the highest chance of success, I wrote this talk and spoke in Hamburg on December 28th.

The audience was brilliant: the half hour Q&A which followed was wide ranging with 6 participants identifying themselves as Open Source business owners themselves. One comment which I’ve dwelt on since was “what’s the best way for the Open Source community and your community of customers to interact?”. Getting the answer to this right is both hard and important — it’s easy to keep these two groups of key stakeholders separately siloed, and lose the great synergy they could create. What could be the benefits of these two groups, both experts on your product, meeting and sharing knowledge and ideas?

33C3 was my first Congress and won’t be my last. After eight years of speaking at technology conferences it’s rare to have an entirely new experience, but Hamburg was that. Congress provides a sort of global leadership for the hacker scene; it both reflects and sets the focus of a wide range of technology communities, and is of unique benefit to Germany as a beacon of IT innovation and expertise.

ESMT Berlin has awarded Scholarship to the aspiring business leader Sam Tuke. The 29-year-old scholarship recipient is CEO of phpList Ltd., a company offering open source software for digital marketing.

The award is made by the German Daily broadsheet newspaper Tagesspiegel, who describe the degree programme thus:

This is a part time degree based in Berlin, with 60 of 64 participants based outside of the city, travelling from 33 different countries to participate in each 6 day module, spaced 8 weeks apart. Studies last 18 months and cover corporate strategy, leadership, finance, decision making, operations, and more. I can’t wait to get started applying the science of business in Open Source enterprise!

Following his 15 year term as Founder and Managing Director, Michiel Dethmers has entrusted me with the future of the project as the company reshapes to fulfil new potential.

The Open Source email newsletter and marketing solution

phpList’s history and established position give it a uniquely important role in the future of digital marketing and the promotion of Open Source. For people who value trust and transparency from their email marketing solution, phpList is already the best choice. Currently we send millions of emails each week from our hosted service, and have empowered others to send a further 21 billion messages this year using our software independently.

To have an impact on the norms of digital marketing generally however, we need to grow new services to bring our brand of permission-based marketing to broader audiences.

Fortunately, there’s never been a better time to do this, as email marketing continues to dominate as one of, if not the most, effective forms of digital marketing. The world’s appetite for email marketing services is reaching ever new heights, with The Guardian calling 2015 “The Year of the Email Newsletter“.

Look out for new services on phplist.com taking advantage of these trends in early 2016!

A little history

Back in 2008 I first set up phpList for an early client, Don’t Travel Empty (DTE), the automated vehicle-sharing service for passenger transportation companies. Tens of thousands of emails followed over the next three years while I served as DTE’s Head of Development.

Simple Christmas postcard delivered in 2009 while working for a previous company, using phpList

Anna Morris joined phpList as Community Manager in early 2014. A friend and ex-colleague from FSFE, Anna opened a personal connection between me and the firm, and the door to two years of give and take, advice to and from the company, on many aspects of Open Source code, community, and commerce.

Anna Morris, phpList Community Manager, and I on Corby Beach during a visit in 2014

After helping out at the first phpList code sprint in the summer of 2014, I had a good feel for the project’s plugin system, and by January this year, had undertaken to develop a new REST API.

When a foreign competitor made moves to purchase the company a few months later, I reached out to Michiel, concerned to keep the business in the hands of people who understood and appreciated its Open Source roots. Soon after we hatched a plan for phpList’s new direction, and new C.E.O.. A couple of flights and meetings later, and the paperwork had dried.

Productive friends

With Collabora CloudSuite on the cusp of global launch, it was hard to leave Michael Meeks, Kendy, Andras, Miklos, and the other leading lights of the LibreOffice community who were my colleagues at Collabora. Promoting their amazing work since August last year has been an incredible privilege, as well as the opportunities to announce LibreOffice for Android, and LibreOffice Online.

Open Source business is tough, especially in the enterprise sector, and I’m grateful for the invaluable commercial lessons that Michael and Niall McCarthy have taught me in recent months. These principles are now at work in a new team, and a new market. Roll on the next phase: roll on phpList!

When you announce a new product you want your company to be the center of attention. All the time and resources invested in developing it must translate into exposure that you can control, and ultimately convert into business. We Open Sourceres face unique challenges in predicting and shaping public perception about our software. Simply put, we must own our own news.

In the run-up to my announcement of Collabora CloudSuite, the LibreOffice-based Google Docs competitor, the clock was ticking to announce first, and announce loudest, news over which I had little control.

The race to announce

As Jeremy Irons says: “to make a living in this business, you must be first, be smarter, or cheat.” As he concludes in the movie Margin Call, being first is the best out of three. When operating in the open, announcing your work first is critical to set the backdrop, framing, and focus of the news, and to capture all available traffic for yourself (and your lead forms).

Yet public Git repositorious can be accessed by anyone; source code can be built, unstable code tested, and unfair assessments made. Collabora develops LibreOffice in communitiry repositories — in January, journalists knew about LibreOffice for Android before I had announced it. The more astute among them had followed the commits, and responded to my release announcement with “what’s new about that?”.

Pre-emptive statements can be very effective at fertilising the ground of your future work: announcing that work has begun, or your direction has been set, can help establish yourself as the authoritative source for what comes next. Announcing earlier than you’d like to is better than re-announcing yesterday’s news. However this cannot protect you from another threat: your own engineers stealing the limelight.

We want our engineers to be community leaders, well-known contributors and constant communicators. The coder who routinely showcases their own work in blogs, videos and social media is a powerful asset indeed.

But the affect can be powerfully antagonistic when uncoordinated with a new product announcement. Finding an impromptu preview of a hot unannounced feature in my G+ timeline more than once elicited a “wow” followed by “oh shit”, followed by rapid-fire emails to the esteemed hacker responsible. Keeping engineers aligned with announcement timelines is a critical ongoing task to encourage their valuable engagement without compromising wider goals.

Working in the open entails giving up control that proprietary software companies enjoy. It’s nigh on impossible to keep big secrets among a large developer community. But by working harder, planning better, and managing relationships more closely than closed source rivals, Open Source product announcements can impact the right people at the right time.

I don’t usually write posts like this. Product reviews etc. are outside of my Open Source realm. Over the last month however, my quest for an elite laptop backpack has revealed a chasm between the best that the market has to offer, and the bags that review websites typically recommend.

Screw PCAdvisor. To hell with T3. Thule, Herschel, Fjällräven, and Wenger all make nice bags. But for a certain class of commuter, aesthetic articulation and identity originality are just as important as inspired design and practical features.

Perhaps it’s because they’re newly released. Maybe it’s because those who’ve discovered them guard their secret. But for some reason, the following bevy of bags lack the coverage that they deserve. Thanks to John Ngo for pointing me at several of the products below.

My criteria

I use my backpack virtually every day of the year. Whether fetching groceries, hauling gymwear, stowing shirts for a conference on the continent, or ferrying laptop, headphones, ergonomic peripherals, and myriad cables to the office, my backpack is my stalwart companion, on foot, on train, and on bicycle. Therefore I judge the bags on the following merits (in no particular order):

My best backpacks

Beautiful and distinctive bag made from high quality recycled materials, with good access, excellent size to capacity ratio, and good laptop compartment padding. Unfortunately it’s made for macbooks only with a very tight fit. My Dell XPS 15 didn’t stand a chance; the bag went back.

A striking, militaristic bag with extreme practicality, with the unique benefit of customisability via velcro accessory system. “Build your own bag” and attach and detach components as necessary. From the Mission District of San Francisco (their store is a thing to behold).

Incase had to have a bag here, but choosing which was hard. Customers rave about their design and attention to detail, and clearly this company is doing many things right (especially their EO range — see their brilliant but boxy offering in the honourable mentions). Unfortunately aesthetics have been lacking across their range however, with square monochrome bags coupled with limited colour choices. This bag however breaks from this trend with a flash of neon yellow, and though the ICON and City bags offer more structure and better size to capacity ratio, the Halo Courier introduces the critical component: handsome looks.

Incase Halo Courier

Honourable mentions

These bags didn’t quite make the cut, whether because they prioritise good looks a bit too much (in the case of the Côte&Ciel Nile), not enough (the Osprey Nebula 34), or have too much, or too little capacity (the EO Travel / Evoc Commuter, and Boa Squeeze respectively). They are noteworthy nevertheless, and deserving of your attention.